Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique - Governance, Politics and Spiritual Systems

By demonstrating that Western conceptions of ''civil society'' have provided the framework for interpreting societies in the Global South, Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique argues that it is only through a critical deconstruction of these concepts that we can start to re-balance global power relationships, both in academic discourse and in development practices.Examining the exclusionary discourses framing the support for Western-type NGOs in the development discourse - often to the exclusion of local social actors - this book dissects mainstream contemporary ideas about ''civil society'', and finds a new means by which to identify local forms of social action, often based in traditional structures and spiritual discourses. Outlining new conceptual ideas for an alternative framing of Mozambique''s ''civil society'', Kleibl proposes a series of fresh theoretical issues and questions alongside empirical research, moving towards a series of new policy and practice arguments for rethinking and decolonizing civil society in the Global South.>

List of contents

Introduction: Civil Society - a Functional or Transformative Concept?
Part I: Interrogating Civil Society in the Development Discourse
Part II: Civil Society in Mozambique
Part III: Governance and Civil Society in Mozambique
Part IV: Civil Society in the Context of Economic Disorder and Political Conflict
Conclusion: Identifying and Pushing the Post-colonial Boundaries

About the author

Tanja Kleibl is currently Professor of Social Work, Migration and Diversity at the University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany and Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.

Product details

• Authors: Tanja Kleibl, KLEIBL TANJA
• Publisher: Zed Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2023
• EAN: 9781786999351
• ISBN: 978-1-78699-935-1
• No. of pages: 208
• Dimensions: 154 mm x 232 mm x 14 mm
• Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa; Politics and Development in Co
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Sustainable Development, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Colonialism & Post-Colonialism, Africa, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Developing & Emerging Countries, Colonialism & imperialism, Colonialism and imperialism, Development economics & emerging economies, Development economics and emerging economies, National liberation & independence, post-colonialism, National liberation and independence